While night is a time when much evil takes place in the world, it can also be a time of profound union with God. Catholic monks and nuns in contemplative religious orders have traditionally woken up in the middle of the night to pray. Often, they would pray the Divine Office, in particular the Office known as Matins. But other religious living in orders with a more hermetic (solitary) focus would simply wake up and pray in silence — either in their cell or in the church. What is it about praying at night that is so enticing?
Have you ever walked into a quiet, dark church at night that happened to be unlocked and simply knelt or sat in a pew? There is something very calming in doing so. It is not just the calming effect of entering into a dimly-lit place of silence, but something much more. The peace that can often be felt at such times can soothe the soul and give it a breath of fresh air. But from where does this sense of calm and peace come? Is it just psychological, or is there something more to it?
I remember the time that just preceded my conversion to the Catholic Faith. I happened to enter one evening into a Catholic Church that was empty. I sat in one of the pews in the dark church and felt overcome with a peace I cannot even describe. I knew, even then, that that peace was not just a subjective feeling based on the calm of the setting in which I found myself. There was something more — much more. The peace was not just an absence of agitation or external disturbance; it was a peace that emanated from a Presence. At that time, before my conversion, little did I know what that Presence was; but today, it is as clear to me as the light of day: it was the Real Presence of Jesus in the Tabernacle.
One of the Church's most beloved saints of the last century, St. Padre Pio, is known especially for some of the extraordinary supernatural phenomena that characterized his life. But he is less known, sadly, for the one thing that made him a saint before all else: his intense life of prayer — and in particular, his prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. This great saint from Pietrelcina once gave the following advice:
Always remain close to the Catholic Church, because it alone can give you true peace, since it alone possesses Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the true Prince of Peace.
The peace that we feel when entering into a Catholic Church, even when no other visible person is around to give us comfort or consolation, is a peace that comes directly from the Prince of Peace: Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament. It is a peace that cannot be compared to anything else in this world.
It has often been said by the mystics that in order to experience fully the presence of God, we need to withdraw ourselves from the presence of our fellow man. The best example we have of this is the example given to us in the Gospels by Our Lord Himself.
And rising very early, going out, [Jesus] went into a desert place: and there he prayed. -Mk. 1:35
Our Lord often prayed alone, sometimes in a desert place, sometimes on a mountain, sometimes in the solitude of a garden (like at Gethsemane). He was teaching us, by way of example, the importance of extracting ourselves from the world around us, and from all other people, in order to be alone with God, to be alone in God. Because when we pray, we immerse ourselves in the Presence of God. And because the Holy Eucharist is the Real Presence of Christ, there is no better place to do this than in an empty church, in front of the Tabernacle, at night: communing alone with God, communing in the darkness with the One who is the True Light.
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